i’ve become a lurker of late, and miss conversing with you all. thanks to all who make the time every day to contribute here!

i just have to pop in to say: please everyone, go outside and play! i want the president to play more golf, the first lady to dance around the garden, the first girls to do handstands and cartwheels, and everybody, everybody to just get out of town for a bit. spring is here (or on its way) and we human animals need to feel the earth beneath our feet, the sky above our heads, and the green things growin’ all around all around.

hi dudette~
still sunday night here, and about to have supper. hope your day was fantastic, with the perfect combo of sweets and savories. i did get to visit a friend whose white bunny was hopping around in the grass most classicly!

Happy Easter Monday,Dudette. I hope you had a wonderful Easter! It is still Easter here in Cal. I Just got back from a wonderful family gathering with good food and lots of good wine. I am also very lucky because I have a day off on Easter Monday.

Thanks Nath! Mine Easter was pretty awesome — always such a joy to spend time with my folks. Sounds like you had a great one yourself. Lucky you — Monday off! I should be in bed now. Think I’d better go now. Be well friend!

Congrats on 1st maryl1. susanne I did see you right below the jump, so your pixels did not go unnoticed, aloha. Happy Easter Monday to you too Dudette. It’s time for me to bid adieu. It’s been awhile since I was up this late, good to see the night shift in real time. Y’all take care now and don’t stay up too late. Last one up, please cut off the lights.

ndia’s Supreme Court has rejected a plea by Novartis to patent an updated version of its cancer drug, Glivec.

The Swiss drugmaker had been denied a patent by Indian authorities on the grounds that the new version was only slightly different from the old.

There were concerns that a patent could threaten access to cheap generic versions of drugs in poorer countries.

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Glivec, which is used to treat chronic myeloid leukaemia and other cancers, costs about $2,600 (£1,710) a month.

The generic equivalent is currently available in India for just $175.

Anand Grover, a lawyer representing Cancer Patients Aid Association, said he was “ecstatic with the ruling”.

“This will go a long way in providing affordable medicine for the poor,” he said.

…

Novartis applied for a patent in 2006 for its new version of the drug, arguing that it was easier to absorb and therefore qualified for a fresh patent.

However, the Indian patent authority rejected the application based on a law aimed at preventing companies from getting fresh patents by making only minor changes to existing drugs, a practice known as “evergreening”.

Officials also turned down a subsequent appeal by the company three years later.

On Monday, India’s Supreme court rejected the firm’s appeal to get patent protection for the drug.

In so many cases – my world as one example that I well know about – cancer drugs are mainly paid for by the government – drug companies therefore think they can charge anything at all – which is why countries that believe in universal health care have to be very vigilant about what they pay for all types of drugs. It is also why drug companies spend much money on getting onto the “approved” drug lists – and why they want patents to last forever. I know it costs much to develop such products – and costs need to be covered – but making obscene amounts of money out of people’s misfortunes – from governments who care – is seriously the worst that capitalism has to offer.

Ben Carson got a tough lesson in the past week on how quickly the angry and divisive world of cable TV can chew you up.

The 61-year-old Baltimore County physician has been in the media spotlight as a darling of the right since early February, when he addressed the National Prayer Breakfast with what some interpreted as a lecture to President Barack Obama. But last week, Carson’s TV image and the discussion about him shifted dramatically — for the worse.
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In contrast to what had been until last week a steadily rising tide of calls for Carson to seek political office after he retires from Hopkins, Grace Wyler, who covers politics at Business Insider, wrote, “Carson’s venture into gaffeland Tuesday indicates that his career in politics might be over before it even began — and demonstrates the danger Republicans face when they fall in love with a ‘candidate’ who has yet to be vetted by a single voter.”

republicans are too eager to find “their PBO” that they will jump on the bandwagon of any person of color who can construct a sentence.

when I first heard Dr Ben Carson speak at the Prayer Breakfast, I was not amused by his “I am smarter than thou POTUS” attitude that he displayed. I remember sending out a comment that once his designated job (of attacking PBO) is done the same people pumping him up would chew him so fast and dump him aside. I just never thought it would happen so soon

Ladies and Gentlemen meet Doctor Herman Cain better known as Doctor Ben Carson. Why is it that the Republicans just refuse to get it, you just can’t put a black face out there and think we will come running to the Republican Party. It’s not about that, it’s about their policies, what they stand for, and the out and out racism that they openly allow in their party toward minorities. I couldn’t be like Ben Carson or Clarence Thomas. If I used affirmative action and other programs to make it across that bridge, I done want to burn that bridge. I want to see that others like me get the chance to make it across that bridge. Anything anti-Obama, specially black and anti-Obama the right wing haters will love you to death.

Please do your homework and decide for yourself. Educate yourself on what the NRA wants you to believe by reading the Children’s Defense Fund’s updated fact sheet “The Truth About Guns.” During this Easter recess, go to your members of Congress’ town hall meetings and let your members know that the time to be held hostage to the NRA lobby is over. Let’s break the NRA lock on the research door to learn and share the truth about the human, economic and public safety costs of gun violence in our nation. I believe the truth will set us free.

Here’s another chance to listen to/watch Jon Favreau discussing his time with Pres. Obama. You cannot watch this too often. [ps. The real thing starts at 3:40 – before that the introducer & Bergen ramble on a bit 🙄 ]